My First Post-Kindle Christmas

 

Source: yannascimbene.com via Abject on Pinterest

It's holiday season again  and I face my yearly question 'to send or not to send, this is the question.' Christmas cards that is. Somehow Christmas/Holiday Cards are my Waterloo.

Each year I shop for holiday cards, each year I buy some. And each year I faithfully put notes in each one, slide them into their envelopes and affix the appropriate address and return address--and then--nothing. Somehow I always put them aside and forget to mail them. Sometimes even with stamps on them.

I don't know why. I'm sure a psychiatrist would have a field day analyzing my 'problems' with mailing these on a yearly basis. But since I now have this blog, I thought this would be an easy way to 'mail' my Christmas cards this year.

Why did I choose this card? It's my first holiday post Kindle. --nuff said. Figured I might as well use my old books for something useful! I do love my Kindle!

If you love me, you're already reading my blog. If you are a friend, you read my blog,and if you know me just casually, some of you are reading my blog, and to those who don't know me at all, now that you've been reading my blog you know me pretty well. So Happy Holidays! This year my holiday wishes can be considered 'mailed.' And before December 1. It's possibly a first!

Not Your Usual Babe In A Manger

The Christmas story.  Baby Jesus, in the manger, surrounded by his loving parents Mary and Joseph, some Wise Men, and some sheep, donkeys, angels watching over them all.  Traditional Christmas story, we all know it.  But for two men I know the Christmas story this year may be about fostering a child who needs them.  A different take on the usual tale, but poignant all the same. 

We've all heard about the horrors of fostercare.  It's on the news.  In the newspaper (even if you are reading it online).  Horrors make headlines.  Sad but true.  But what so infrequently make the news is the joy of a couple when they first get a child through the foster care system.  Whether it's foster to adopt or a short term emergency placement, each foster parent opens their heart and their homes to a new family member, even if it's only for short period of time. 

Friends of ours are at the edge of foster care now.  They're waiting for their first child.  You might say they're 'a little bit foster pregnant.'  (Although that might be a little tough because they're a gay couple.)  Two men.  One who teaches school, one who works in the disabled.  A caring duo excited by the prospect after years of waiting...are on the cusp of getting their first child.  The first possibility fell through.  But there's another one coming up.  The excitement is palpable.  They have a car seat in their car at all times, just in case they get an infant/toddler without notice.  Space set up in their home for a nursery that can easily be converted into a bedroom for an older child at a moment's notice.  Their hearts and minds and home are ready to become foster parents.  Not your typical 'horror story' in fact, not a horror story at all, but a story of the heart and love. 

So the next time you hear a horror story about the foster care system, think of this loving couple, and others like them who are signed up to be foster parents, all in a similar situation.  Waiting to help, to love, to care for a child who needs them.  Certainly not a horror story.  And just a little bit different than your typical Christmas story of a babe in a manger--but... a story of the heart just the same.

Mighty Mom To Save The Day!

As my daughters were growing up our house was often a hive of activity--their friends were always here! If I had a quarter for every times I heard the phrase "Can I ask you for some Mom advice?"  I'd be the Warren Buffett of Blogdom!

I guess I just looked approachable--like I'd answer their questions, no matter what they were! I gave getting boyfriend advice, breaking up with boyfriend advice (and the gamut of questions in between!).  Today every time one of them is with me and we see a SEPTA bus (the local mass transit here) go by, the girls chime in "boys are like buses, another one comes along every ten minutes,"--advice they obviously heard from me all the time! I gave kids an ear when they needed it.  I didn't rat them out, but to this day I give thanks none of them came to me with problems that made me feel like I HAD to talk to their parents.

One of my daughter's friends told me I was "MIGHTY MOM!" I laughed, and wondered if I could put that on a resume to get a job to fill in those 'blank' years when I was home raising children! After all I do have 'super powers' although they are probably only powers another mom would appreciate.

I have the ability to sooth a child or teen who is in tears, negotiate arguments between crying teenage girls, cook dozens of cupcakes at the last minute for bake sales or food for parties; locate missing school bags, homework, sports equipment etc; run girl scout troops, help rodents deliver babies, run school fund raisers and the list goes on and on.  Yes, my suburban life has groomed me (and other moms like me) for life at the top in any corporation.

As I read this I think, hmmm...soothe people who are upset and negotiate arguments, obviously the government needs me in the Middle East.  Face it, half of a mother's job is crisis management! As for my cooking skills...the Food Network is really missing out on my skill sets; find missing items--I could be a PI or part of the police department (I can see it now "Carly's Mom, PI."  Look to your laurels Magnum!) I could run troops--the armed forces obviously needs my skills.  Delivering rodents, well I think I'll leave that skill off, someone just might offer me a permanent job in hamster labor and delivery or worse yet rat L&D ych! 

Yes, as a mom we all learn skill sets that are valuable--the trick is to generalize them into a marketable skills.  So my advice to other moms?  Keep being mighty and stay strong. Possibly your most important job is imparting to your daughters that women CAN be strong at work and at home or wherever they want to be.  It's all about CHOICE. 

Inspiration and drawing from The Toymaker, Whose Journal is chock full of maxims for living life creatively complete with her fabulous drawings.  If you haven't seen her books , available on Amazon and from other booksellers take a look, great Christmas gifts!